Poker’s favourite Mohawk

There’s nothing I like more in poker than a German with a Mohawk winning a World Series bracelet. Actually, as far as I know there is only one German player in the game sporting a Mohawk, and that’s George Danzer.

But Danzer, even if he was wearing a crew cut and a dress, is someone you instinctively want to do well, playing the game with dedication and panache. So when he won the bracelet in the $10,000 Razz Championship event, I was delighted.

I’ll get to the panache bit, but such is Danzer’s dedication to the game that he once regaled me stories of his strategy when playing online, which was a little more intense than I had envisaged.

As I wrote back in September, Danzer was adamant than in a four-handed ring game it was imperative that you never left the table if the fish was still playing. Sitting out for a civilised comfort break, even for a minute, might tempt either one of the other players — or the fish — to leave the game, an absolute no-no when it’s they who are providing your two big bets an hour profit.

So other measures had to be implemented, enough to make me wonder whether an EPT catheter bag might one day feature as one of the goodies in the FPP shop.

It’s natural to celebrate his achievements whenever he wins a ‘COOP for instance, but even more so following this first WSOP bracelet. Danzer has always talked eloquently about poker and his career in the game. But Danzer also serves as one of those useful reminders that sometimes the poker Gods act not on whim but instead on righteousness, bestowing their Corona Obsidionalis on the well deserving.

Danzer also has a capacity to let the travails of the job roll off his back, never dwelling on things too greatly. As a reporter there are few things more uncomfortable than talking to a player in the depths of a bad patch, but even in those rare cases Danzer can see the positive side without dwelling too much on the negative. That, for me at least, is the mark of a great player; that and a mastery of those games that most would consider exotic, such as Razz.

So congratulations to Danzer on a first World Series bracelet. There may yet be more in store for him at this year’s World Series (update: and there have been). For now though his grin will likely be permanent. It’s amazing what a bracelet, and regular access to the bathroom, can do to a man.